Done nothing for England tonight!! Hope Shenton is ok.

Some talent but no experience at the halves - no kicking game - maybe Eastmond and Tomkins in time but not yet

Lacking direction in the halves, good first half, ran out of steam. Outclassed.

Should've gone with Myler & Mcguire

I'll have whatever you have been smoking

Myler didn't deserve a starting place if were honest..just wish players at least put their hand up and was counted for England. Australia were pretty amazing having said that!!

Eastmond should have attacked the line more, he did it a few times in the 1st half and looked dangerous. Myler and Mcguire would have offered nothing more than Tomkins and Eastmond, Smith was right to go with the 2 who started in the halves tonight. Ps made up for Ben Westwood, hasn't had a bad game this tournament, and put in some great defence tonight.

maybe it was a touch of sarcasm

Standing ovation in order.

Great performance considering the number of first teamers we had out - Wellens, Gardner, Gleeson, Senior, Calderwood, Long, Horne, Newton, Gilmour, Johnson pretty much a whole team of first teamers out. The young lads stood up and did a great job. Who knows what the score would have been if some of our first choice players had been there?

great bit of sarcasm but the original posters comments are quite true....they were very poor half backs.
the gap between the Tomkins and Easmond combo and Lockyer and Thurston is very very big.

Lockyer has been playing for a long time thats fair enough but if he was as ordinary as tomkins at the same age, he wouldnt have got a club jersey never mind an International one...

sorry for not towing the line over tomkins and Eastmond....

Nothing wrong with playing young'uns if they respond correctly. Tomkins and Eastmond will benefit from the game.

I really wonder how Bridge gets in the England squad, actually I know how



Westwood isnt an International full stop. Not a go at Wire, just an observation. Although he didn't do anything particularly wrong tonight, just nothing spectacular.

Our backline simply isnt as good as what the Oz throw at us. We can compete in the forwards we just need to bring in some backline talent...

Played well in all the games if not doing anything "spectacular" means hes not an International player then most of that team aint either.

thought ryan hall was a bit pants tonight to be honest

You mean like Chris Bridge the penalty machine that has constantly put his side on the back foot during this tournament, only a handful of England players can come out of this tournament with any real credit and most will know the ones that stood out.

Tony Smith`s last 2 game plans against the kiwis and against the aussies tonight looked like it was to play it down the middle in the main, looking at our backline and comparing it with the backline of the aussies you would have been foolish to try and take them on out wide.

It looked like we tried to play to our strengths which was our pack given that the aussies had one of the poorest touring packs of forwards ive seen for a fair while, Eastmond and Tomkins were basically feeding off crumbs given the lack of an expansive game from England, they looked like they were instructed to play to a tight game plan and it worked for a long while until we ran out of gas and couldn`t keep up with the speed of the aussies in the 2nd half.

Screw picking on individual players, simple truth, we are a million miles away from the likes of Australia, question is, why ?

Till we start fielding Super League teams of ENGLISH players, and less 'imports' - gonna be same old.

What was the stat tonight, only 50% of al SL players this year playing 5 or more games were English......

Outclassed,outplayed,outhought, and much fitter.......

rubbish

total crap ,benthams call on that try was outrageous never a try ,a massive call that cost us we would have gone in half time in the lead .lots of bad calls i felt that were big turnin points for them ,they always get the rub of the green .if that same thing was a aussie he wouldnt have give us that call .tony smith you picked the right team totaly ,we finished 3rd in the world cup ,12 month later we get to the final and smash them for 60 mins with calls well done mr smith take a bow

Your right that it wasn`t a try but it wouldn`t have made one bit of difference to the end result, England/GB would have tired in the same way after the big effort they put in during that first half, we are simply not in the same league as the australians, they have the extra gears whenever they need them and turn it on when the need calls.

If your on about bad decisions that changed games, what about Chris Bridge`s forward pass to Peter Fox against the Kiwis which came at a crucial time in the game as it put England 18-6 up at half time in that game.

Bad decisions go for you, they go against you but the Inglis decision had no bearing on the end result of this match tonight.

well i think it did ,and there was few more on top ov that,the tomkins knock on was bull he was held down then pushed ,they scored again off that when this stuff happens to players the heads drop and trys got ran in ,fair play to the aussies for that ,but i dont think were a mile off tonight

I have to wonder if those people lamenting that we didn't have enough experience out on the pitch are the same people that were criticising the coach playing the same old players and calling for new blood???

Yes we were outplayed and beaten by a better side. Yes it happens every year. But we challenged Australia for 60 minutes. Anyone who can't see that wasn't watching the same game as me. On the plus side we've given the young England players of the future their start, which is hugely important. People are bemoaning the fact that we fielded a team with a small amount of experience but how are these young players supposed to get it without playing in the big games?

*Rugbychick

LMAO, c'mon catch up with the rest of us

Agree with the Bridge comment, looked out of his depth.

However disagree with Westwood comment. I was surprised when he make the 24man squad then the 17 but he's really impressed me, solid in defence, threatened to break the line and best of all didnt give away silly pens or drop the ball. Great effort from him.

look at the positives our team is relatively young a lot of the aussies are end of the road stick with a consistent young team who will grow together as a team and play more brits in the british leagues and the future looks bright

Here, here.

No, we can't. The Aussie's dominated us all over the field tonight, they were stronger, quicker and more skillful. The reason the likes of Thurston and Lockyer can run riot was because of the platform built by their pack, the Aussie's stronger, more mobile pack outclassed the English tonight, like they do every game.